Researchers at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre have a new view of how our blood is made.

They say the findings, published online in the journal Science, prove that ”the whole classic ‘textbook’ view we thought we knew doesn’t actually even exist.”

Putting it another way, lead researcher Dr. John Dick says ”think of it as moving from the old world of black-and-white television into the new world of high definition.”

He says the discovery means they’ll be able to understand far better, a wide variety of blood diseases and disorders, from leukemia to anemia.

He adds the findings unlock a distinct route to personalizing therapy.

The discovery builds on Dr. Dick’s breakthrough research in 2011, also published in Science, when the team isolated a human blood stem cell in its purest form – as a single stem cell capable of regenerating the entire blood system.